03.03.2016.

The Day of the Military Intelligence Agency

In the Great War Hall of the Old General Staff building tonight the Day of the Military Intelligence Agency (VOA) has been marked . The ceremony was attended by Defence Minister Zoran Djordjevic, representatives of the executive, judicial and legislative powers, Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff General Ljubisa Dikovic, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, Ministry of Interior, religious communities, diplomatic corps, military attaches accredited in Serbia and many other guests.

According to the Director of VOA, Brigadier General Slavoljub Dabic, the history of the military intelligence service is inextricably linked with the history of the Serbian state and its army.

- Its task today, as it was more than a century ago, is to detect threats and bad intentions, to prevent surprise and timely inform the state and military leadership. Character of security challenges, risks and threats in the 21st century has changed. Accordingly, the work of the Agency in the past period was marked by intensive engagement of all our capacities to fulfil all the tasks in accordance with the foreign policy and defence interests of the Republic of Serbia – General Dabic stressed, adding that in order to provide support to the state and military leadership, members of VOA are working hard every day on gathering intelligence about the risks and threats from abroad directed against our country.

With the involvement of the defence attachés in 22 countries who represent the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces in a dignified manner as a credible and reliable partners, the Agency, as the Director of VOA pointed out, continuously monitors and reports on crises and regions where the members of our defence system are deployed or planned to be deployed in multinational operations, thus giving them intelligence support at the realization of peace missions.

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I am proud of the fact that the VOA and its members responsibly and in accordance with the law, are protecting Serbian national interests in a professional way.Military Intelligence Agency, as the holder of intelligence functions in the defence system of the Republic of Serbia has kept its basic ''capital'' and that is primarily the people with integrity, knowledge, experience, team spirit and a desire to always be one step ahead of the event – General Dabic said. Military Intelligence Agency and its members will continue in the future to be the first line of defence of Serbia, General Dabic concluded, adding that the goal of VOA is modern and powerful intelligence function in the defence system of the Republic of Serbia, is a top priority for maintaining the security of our country. This year it is for the first time that the Day of Military Intelligence Agency is marked on 5 March to commemorate the year 1884 when the Foreign Section within the Operational Department of the Main General Staff was established, which was the first time in modern Serbian state that the Military Intelligence activities were institutionally rounded out.